In Between The Trees

I told her not to go, in between those trees were things that you wouldn't even see in your nightmares. But she did anyways, and now it's up to me to find her. I made a promise that if she left that I would come back for her...and I do not break promises.

2. Chapter 1. Determined

I sat in my room, on my bed thinking to myself about the night, the night my world turned upside down. The night I had curled up in a ball and cried for 2 hours straight. The night I let my best friend go.

I looked around my tan colored room as I pressed my knees up against my chest and started to let my mind wander off. I tried telling her this would happen….but I guess she didn't want my advice. She decided to leave, she decided to go because of one breakup! But now she's missing. And no one knows where she's at.

She has at least a couple million missed phone calls on her phone. And the one time she did answer, all I heard was breathing. Very heavy breathing, the kind that you get after you just ran a mile straight kind of breathing. But after a few seconds of that horrible raspy inhaling and exhaling, she...or whoever, or whatever that was...hung up.

It’s been 6 months now after the tragedy. In between those months people have recorded different unusual things washing up on shore. But these unusual things that were washing up on shore...they were Savannah's. If you don't know who that is by now, that's my best friend that ran away, she's the one who has been gone for 6 months. These things included, her bracelet, her shoe, and even one of her earrings with dried blood smothered on it.

The cops and the FBI and every single person in this town have declared that she is dead. The whole town has gotten over her being missing, or as they say, dead. But I haven't…I know that she is still alive, I just know.

People come up to me asking why, why i'm not letting go. It's simple, there's nothing to let go of. There's no death to mourn over, there's just the simple fact that she's missing, but I will find her. I promised her that I would. I searched, desperately for anything at all to help me find her.

But today was was the day.

My dad was on vacation with my mom for another 2 weeks and my little sister is staying with my grandma as I watched over the house. But since I was leaving, I needed to pack some things because there was no telling how long I was going to be gone.

I got my dark green duffel bag and started to think. I'm gonna need food, water, some kind of weapon and warmth. I packed some canned foods, some water bottles, my machete, a small blanket, 3 extra pairs of clothes, and 3 lighters.

I sat in my chair with my duffel bag in my lap. I sighed and leaned back into the chair as it also leaned back with a creak. I turned on the TV and watched an episode of my favorite Netflix series before I had to leave because I wasn't sure if i’d ever watch Netflix again. Which was a big deal to me.

I sighed thinking about Savannah and got up while grabbing my duffel bag. I opened the door and the wind slammed it open. Every time I hear wind or feel it, it just brings me back to the day me and Savannah were arguing. I could’ve prevented her from leaving. But I didn't, I let her go knowing that she wouldn't come back.

I tied my hair back in a 2 second bun and walked out. I locked the door behind me and got on my bike and started to peddle my self down the road, about an hour later I was at the edge of the woods, where it happened.

I leaned my bike up against a tree. I dropped my duffel bag from my shoulder down to my hand. I walked to the exact spot where she left. Where we had the argument...I could envision our argument all over again. The way she threw her hands up in the air when she got mad. The way she got embarrassed but fueled with anger. She looked into these woods and she felt determined, I know she did.

Suddenly a strong wind blew, and I got this feeling...something was coming. I wonder if that's the feeling Savannah got when she left. I looked down at the solid earth. It was moist and there were dried leaves because it was the beginning of fall. The leaves were turning but not as fast as my emotions.

I wasn't sure if I should do this. Don't get me wrong I love Savannah and I would do anything to find her, but what if I go missing...what if I die. Okay Opal don't think like that, i'm not gonna die, Savannah isn't dead so i'm not going to be. I thought maybe the more I tell myself that, then maybe i’ll actually start to believe it. But that just wasn't the case.

I shrugged my shoulders and swung my duffel bag back up onto my shoulder. I turned the exact direction that Savannah went. I put my right foot forward as I tried to fight back the tears.